


i really can't stay (baby it's cold outside)

by pinchecacto



Category: Power Rangers (2017)
Genre: F/F, idk what this is lmao but its kinda cute so pls read it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-27
Updated: 2018-12-27
Packaged: 2019-09-28 05:47:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17177075
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pinchecacto/pseuds/pinchecacto
Summary: Shit. No one’s in the bathroom for that long.





	i really can't stay (baby it's cold outside)

**Author's Note:**

> is it 2 late 4 a holiday fic already?

Kim was impartial towards the holidays.

 

As a child she adored them, loved seeing her family and opening presents. She loved hearing stories from her Grandparents, loved the home-cooked meals. Holidays were Kim’s specialty.

 

Now, Kimberly Ann Hart, nineteen years  _ old,  _ (it really felt like she was aging a mile a minute), was slightly irritated by the holidays. She’d grown tired of her distant family’s repetitive questioning. ( _ When are you going to college, Kimberly Ann? Where have you applied, Kimberly Ann? Are you going to be a burden on your parents forever, Kimberly Ann? _ ) She’d grown used to the taste of Thanksgiving dinner, (Dry mashed potatoes and flavorless turkey, she knew she spent Thanksgiving with the white side of her family but,  _ c’mon. _ ) She’d grown bored of her grandparents’ stories, (Really, who cares about you switching milk brands? It might’ve been enthralling when she was younger but now, it was just white noise to aideher constant suffering.) And now that she’s older, no one knows what to give her except for money. While she did appreciate the gift, she missed the days when her relatives knew her enough to get her personal gifts and didn’t just throw money at her- after all, just because she wasn’t a kid anymore didn’t mean she couldn’t appreciate gifts that show people  _ listen. _

 

This year, for the holiday season, however. This year. It was apparently time for the Hart family to do something different. (Hart family plus Kim’s grandparents on her mom’s side. Kim wished she could see the rest of her mom’s family but that came with a very hefty airfare fee.) This year, the entire family was picking up and going to California- Angel Grove, baby. Which left Kim without complaint. She hated getting on planes and if her relatives wanted to crowd in her house, so be it. (She’d just stay with Trini, worst case scenario.)

 

And, honestly, Kim felt excited. She only gets to see her family a few times a year and to have one of those times be in  _ her  _ element was a dream. She could be in the comfort of her own home, no longer “the guest”. She could avoid questions with a whole new multitude of excuses- most of them consisting of “my friend had an emergency.” 

 

One problem.

 

Trini had invited her to her family’s Christmas dinner. This was considered an absolute fucking jackpot to Kim- like she’d won the goddamn lottery. Because, Trini was not very quick or easy to open up. They’d been “hanging out” for a few months and it was a little awkward; because after being friends with someone for a year, you get close enough that suddenly developed feelings can be almost weird- shifting from best friends to maybe something more is hard. And as desperately as Kim wanted to bite the bullet and beg Trini to be her girlfriend, she knew she needed to take it slow. Needed to go at Trini’s place. Which was  _ killing  _ her until about a week ago, Trini asked her to join her family dinner. Meet her family officially. (Weird that she hadn’t, after a year of knowing Trini, but who even  _ cares. _ ) Kim saw this as some sort of sign that Trini was ready to take a leap of faith, and plus her family makes  _ killer  _ tamales. (Last year after Christmas Trini had brought her some and she almost melted at the taste.) So she had to go.

At the same time, this was Kim’s family Christmas. She almost got teary-eyed at the thought of her grandparents huddled around the Christmas tree with her cousins, one of the little ones asking  _ Where’s Kimberly?  _ And her grandma sighing, shaking her head, and saying  _ She couldn’t make it this year. She’s just too good for our family now. _

 

Maybe that was a bit of an exaggeration but still, something like that.

 

So what is one disgruntled, old-teenager supposed to do, you ask? Simple. She was going to run between her house and Trini’s the entire night.

 

Maybe it seemed ambitious but Trini’s house was only two streets over, and she was a power ranger, so, she had the cool “I am like a normal human but 10% better” thing to aide her.

 

She had to be at Trini’s by 6:30, and her family was arriving at six. This left her fifteen minutes for greetings and hugs and kisses and then fifteen minutes to bolt to Trini’s house. She knew she’d be cutting it close. From then on it would be a carefully planned game of back and forth.

 

She’d spend thirty minutes meeting Trini’s family, sitting down for dinner, complimenting the food. Then she’d need to go to the bathroom. Luckily, her family dinner wasn’t till eight (thank the lord for how slow her mother was when it came to cooking), and her family would be distracted from her by her younger cousins. For once, no longer being the baby of the family played to Kim’s advantage. So she’d slip into her house, make a presence of herself so her mother doesn’t complain, and then talk about how her friend “had an emergency”. She’d then stay at Trini’s until eight. Kim thought it was, well, genius.

 

Finally, the day came. Kim sat on the couch in her living room, looking to the front door every few seconds as the minutes ticked by. It was currently ten to six, but if her family arrived early, that would give her a little extra leeway.

 

At five to six, the doorbell rang, and Kim shot up, quickly opening it. There in front of her stood her aunt, uncle, and two cousins, both younger than Kim. One was only four years younger and the other was only four years old at  _ all,  _ but that didn’t matter. If they were younger, they were younger.

 

“Kimmy! Peanut,” Her aunt smiled wide and wrapped her arms tight around Kim, squeezing. Kim smiled uncomfortably and waited it out until her aunt let go and faced her. “You look so good! Have you been eating well? I’ll slap that father of yours upside the head if you say no.”

 

Kim chuckled good-naturedly and shook her head. “No, don’t worry about that.” She loved her aunt, even if she could be a bit smothering. She never asked about Kim’s plans for the future, only wanted to know about her current situation.

 

Next her uncle walked in, nodding at Kim and shaking her hand awkwardly. Her youngest cousin was quick to hide behind his leg, while her oldest looked up from his phone to smile at her. She smiled back knowingly. She knew how family events could be to a teenager.

 

The whole interaction, Kim found, had taken up two minutes, and next thing she knew, the doorbell was ringing again. As her family that had already arrived milled about the house Kim rushed to the door once again, quick to open it and smile at the face of her grandparents on her dad’s side and her other uncle, with his only daughter in tow. She did the whole welcoming thing again, full of smiles and hugs (no matter how stiff they turned at her grandparents’ incessant passive-aggressiveness). Rinse and repeat.

 

Finally, ten after six, her mom’s parents arrived. This greeting took the longest as they wanted to examine every part of her, speaking to her in broken English and then to each other in hushed Gujarati (that she knew they knew she understood so, why bother?) It took a few uncomfortable minutes until Kim was done being looked over and she finally smiled at them, kissed them both on the cheek, and welcomed them inside.

 

Kim checked the time and her eyes widened. She was already one minute off schedule. She looked to the kitchen where everyone was gathered and they all seemed distracted enough, doting on the two youngest cousins and greeting one another. So, without another word, Kim snuck outside and began sprinting towards Trini’s house.

 

She made it, and with one whole minute to spare. Kim spent that minute trying to catch her breath, panting outside of Trini’s door. Once she deemed herself presentable, she knocked on Trini’s door and waited. After a few seconds Trini opened it, and, despite her previous effort, Kim lost her breath again.

 

It wasn’t like Trini was wearing anything special, just an oversized hoodie, jeans, and flip flops. But it was  _ Kim’s  _ hoodie she was wearing. Pink and way too tall for her, and Kim recalled leaving it there last time she stayed over.

 

“Kim? You good?” Trini’s voice broke her out of her love-induced haze and she nodded her head quickly.

 

“Yeah. Yeah. Fine.”

 

“Ooookay…” Trini still sounded unconvinced but she wrapped her hand carefully around Kim’s wrist, tugging her further inside. Kim followed like a devoted puppy, unable to take her eyes off of Trini. 

 

Before entering the kitchen Trini turned to Kim seriously and looked her in the eyes, her other hand coming to wrap around Kim’s other wrist. “Kim, c’mon, you gotta snap out of it.”

 

“Out of what?” Kim frowned, looking over Trini’s face. (Trini’s awesome, beautiful, magnificent face.)

Trini gestured vaguely, blushing profusely. “Out of whatever this is. You’re being weird and you’re like, staring and me, and I’m used to oddly-enamored Kim but my parents aren’t and the whole point of this is to make sure they know the  _ best  _ you.”

 

“I’m at my best when I’m with you, baby,” Kim joked, only for Trini to groan and sigh, turning around and gesturing for Kim to follow her.

 

“Just, try to be normal. And don’t stare at me so intensely.”

 

“But you’re preeeetty.”

 

“Kimberly.”

 

“Fine.” Kimberly grumbled dramatically, before changing her face to neutral and walking into Trini’s kitchen. She was greeted by the site of a man setting up plates behind the counter, and he smiled at her warmly. She noted that he had Trini’s eyes and part of her smile, and she liked him already.

 

Trini grabbed her hand and pulled her forward, (Kim was upset that it was a simple grab and not a fingers-interlaced hold but she supposed that kind of thing wasn’t appropriate for the situation), until Kimberly was close enough to touch the man.

 

“Dad, this is Kim. Kim, uh, my dad.”

 

Kim tried to smile as warm as she could and held out her hand. “Nice to meet you, Mr. Gomez.”

 

Trini’s dad grabbed her hand and smiled. “A firm shake. That’s a very good quality for someone to have.”

 

“Uh, thanks,” Kim was a little flustered but smiling, and she decided that she liked Trini’s dad.

 

“Ella me cae bien,” He said as he walked by Trini, and she scrunched her nose (she never did the best in Spanish class), only for Trini to send her a blinding smile and a thumbs up. 

So far, Kim considered this a success, but Trini had warned her that her mom would be different, maybe even less welcoming. So she tried not to celebrate just yet. 

 

“Please, sit, Kimberly.” Trini’s dad interrupted Kim’s train of thought and he beckoned her to a chair, tugging Trini’s shoulder so she sat in the one next to it. “June will be home with the boys any minute now. I’ll be right back, need to go wash up. Hours in the kitchen really does something to a man.”

 

Kim sat down next to Trini and smiled at her. “I told you parents love me.”

 

“Puh-lease,” Trini nudged Kim’s shoulder and shook her head, but she was smiling too, Kim’s too contagious to bare. “My dad has a soft spot for like, everyone.”

 

“Just watch, Katrina Gomez. My charm’s gonna melt your goddamn socks off.”

 

Trini tried to frown at Kim, grumbling something about not full-naming her ever again, but she soon broke into giggles. 

 

Kim looked at her adoringly and, after quickly glancing around, she kissed her cheek.

 

“Gay,” Trini said under her breath, but her face was turning very red. “You know you can’t do that around my family, right?”

 

“What? I thought we were gonna make out right here, on the table?”

 

“Kim!” Trini hissed, slapping her shoulder, “You can’t say shit like that.”

 

But Kim was too busy cackling to hear her, laying her head on Trini’s shoulder as her own bobbed up and down, her body shaking with laughter.

 

“You’re the worst.” Trini groaned, planting her face on the table.

 

Before Kim could respond with some inevitably witty and genius remark, she heard the sound of the front door opening and the unmistakable shrieks of two riled up children.

 

“Alex! Gabe! Vete a la cocina, come on, go! We will not be behaving this way during Christmas. One more screech out of you and Santa is going to take all your presents  _ away. _ ” 

 

Kim watched as two boys, who looked almost  _ exactly  _ like small versions of Trini scrambled into the kitchen, grabbing onto Trini’s legs under her chair and clinging.

 

“Hide me, sweet princess Katrina! The evil witch is after me.” One said, looking up at Trini with big, innocent eyes. Kim stifled her own laugh.

 

“Get off of me, twerps,” Trini groaned, shaking her legs gently so that they both let go. “Sit down and stop acting like cavemen. We have a guest.”

 

Trini’s brothers’ eyes widened as they stood up and looked at Kim, one of their arms shooting out immediately. “Hi, I’m Alex and I-”

 

“I’m Gabe, short for Gabriel, pronounced Gab-ree-ell-” The other tried to intervene, his arm twisting over his brother’s.

 

“Gabe! I was introducing myself first!”

 

“Who made the rule that you get to introduce yourself first, huh? Just ‘cause you were born first doesn’t mean you get dibs on  _ everything _ -”

 

“Boys!” Mrs. Gomez’s voice boomed throughout the room, even sending a slight chill down Kim’s spine. “Sit. Down”

 

The two boys quickly scrambled to their seats and looked down, their faces red and eyes scared and guilty. But, instead of heading to scold them further, Trini’s mom began to walk towards a bewildered Kim, who got up from her seat and smiled, running a hand through her hair and holding her other hand out. “Hi, I’m Kim. S’great to finally meet you.”

 

“Yes, it really is.” Mrs. Gomez took Kim’s hand after seeming to inspect it for a second, shaking it gently. “It’s about time my daughter brought at least one of her friends over for dinner.”

 

Kim sensed an intention other than playful banter behind that comment but chose to ignore it, sitting back down as Trini’s mom took the seat next to her on the other side. 

 

“I apologize for the boys’ behavior, they just came back from a party and are a little… excited.”

 

“Don’t worry about it,” Kim said, waving her hand in the air. “They’re pretty cute, anyways.”

 

She heard the boys cheer from the other side of the table and she smiled a bit herself, knocking her shoulder to Trini’s when she mumbled, “Yeah, about as cute as gargoyles.”

 

They said grace after Trini’s father returned and they were served, Kim giving the food immense praise as she dug in because really, that shit was  _ delicious. _ She looked at her phone quickly and tried not to choke, seeing as she was almost ten minutes behind schedule.

 

“Can I go uh-” Kim got up, trying not to seem awkward and sweaty. “Take care of something, real quick?”

 

Kim realized what that sounded like and flushed immediately but Trini’s mom nodded knowingly. “Bathroom is the first door down the hall.”

 

Kim looked at Trini apologetically as she frowned and mouthed  _ What? _ And then she headed down the hall towards wear Trini’s mother pointed, opening the bathroom door and thanking whatever entity might be up there that it had a window. Kim opened the window and snuck out, leaving it up a crack for when she returned. 

 

She sprinted back to her own house in five minutes and opened the door, only to come face to face with her grandparents’ stares.

 

“Where were  _ you, _ Kimberly Ann?” Her grandmother asked, the invasive question cloaked in fake familial curiosity. 

 

“Just, ah,” Kimberly panted, still out of breath, a nervous smile on her face. “Went for a little run. To get the blood pumping.”

 

Her mother entered the living room just as she finished her sentence, looking over Kimberly disapprovingly. “A run? Kimberly, we have family over.”

 

“Yeah, sorry, I know, I just,” Kimberly forced out a laugh, “Felt the urge, I guess.”

 

Her mom and her grandparents eyed her warily but soon, her mom was called back into the kitchen and her grandparents turned back to whatever show they were watching. Kim ventured into the kitchen and walked around a bit, engaging in conversation with a few family members and playing around with her cousins before checking her phone once again.

 

_ Shit. No one’s in the bathroom for that long. _

 

She waited until her family was distracted and snuck out the bathroom window in  _ her  _ house, (because consistency is key and if bathroom windows are her thing, then bathroom windows are her thing.) 

 

It took her a little longer to get to Trini’s house, and she had to spend a little more time making herself presentable, which lead to her having been away for roughly twenty minutes. Which wasn’t great. 

 

She cringed as she went to sit down next to Trini again, and Trini gazed at her with this  _ look  _ on her face while Trini’s mother cleared her throat, smiling way too politely to Kim. Fuck, she needed to win them back over.

 

The dinner continued on in rather awkward silence, and Kim was just about to break it when Trini’s mother beat her to the punch.

 

“So, Kim, do you have any siblings?” Mrs. Gomez asked, right as Kim put another bite of her (now cold) tamale into her mouth. Kim made sure to finish chewing before she responded.

 

“Nope, I’m an only child. I’ve always loved kids, though.” 

 

“What about us, Kimmy? D’you love us?”

 

Somehow, while she was gone, the twins managed to  _ cover  _ their faces with green salsa. Kim found herself holding in another laugh.

 

“How could I not?” She responded sweetly, and winked. One of the boys (Alex, she thought) pretended to swoon, falling back in his chair and causing Trini to groan and cover her face with her hand. 

 

Trini’s dad laughed but her mom just smiled tightly, looking to Kim again. “Trini still hasn’t even  _ looked  _ at any of the college brochures I’ve been showing her. Do you have a college you’re looking at, Kim?”

 

Trini froze like a deer in the headlights as she stared at Kim, who let out and awkward breathy laugh before replying, playing with her fingers nervously. “Uh, well, I-” She was cut off by the familiar vibration of her phone. A call.

 

She pressed decline quickly and started again, “I-”

 

Before she could finish her phone buzzed again, seemingly angry with her for whatever reason.

 

Kim both thanked and cursed the timing of whoever happened to be calling her. She looked at her phone screen and saw it was her mom. “Sorry I uh, I gotta take this.” Kim knew how rude and awful she sounded right now but, well, it was her mom. She had to or she would end up with like, thirty missed calls. In ten minutes.

 

She heard Trini’s mom scoff under her breath as she got up and walked to the hall, and she silently frowned.  _ You’re supposed to be putting on a good impression, Kim! _

 

“Hey, mom.”

 

“Kimberly, where are you?”

 

Shit. She sounded frantic.

 

“I’m uh…”

 

“You’ve been disappearing and reappearing all night. Is it to much to ask you to stay put for  _ one  _ family event? Your grandparents only see you a few times a year, and who knows how much longer they’ll be around.”

 

“Trini, uh. Trini had an emergency.”

 

Her mother’s tone changed completely at the utterance.

 

“Oh, sweetheart. Is she okay? Are her parents there?”

 

“Yeah she’s uh,” Kim’s neck bristled at the lie. “She’s fine, her parents are here I just, wanna stick around to make sure she’s like, okay. You know?”

“Okay. But be home by dinner.”

 

“ Alabatta, mom.”

 

“Huṁ tamanē prēma karuṁ chuṁ.”

 

“Duh. Love you too.”

 

With that Kim left to join Trini’s family once again at the table. Trini seemed almost relieved when she returned and she laid a hand on Trini’s shoulder as if to say,  _ Don’t worry. No more of that. _

 

“Who was that, Kim?” Trini’s mom asked, most likely wondering who’s call interrupted her family dinner.

 

“My mom. She was just checking in.”

 

“Oh. Do you have a good relationship with your mother?”

 

Kim almost choked on her bite of tamale, because, what kind of question is that? She knew, however, that if she wanted to have any chance of getting in good with Trini’s mother, she’d have to answer.

 

“Uh, well-”

 

“June,” Trini’s father interrupted, frowning at his wife. “Is that really an appropriate question?”

 

“It’s fine.” Kim insisted, while June said something akin to “I’m just trying to get to know her” under her breath. “My mom and I are pretty close, yeah. Especially during the holidays. We have to deal with my dad and his family, so we kind of put up a united front.”

 

“Are your parents divorced?”

 

“Aaaaand that’s enough,” Trini interrupted before Kim could speak, laying her hand on Kim’s shoulder. “Mom, we’re having Christmas dinner with her, not questioning her about a murder.”

 

“Katrina, I was just asking her a question? Why don’t you want me to know your friends?”

 

“Heeeeeey,” Kim tried to break up the two arguing over her. “Uh, Mr. Gomez, where do you get this green salsa? It’s super good.”

 

“It’s homemade.” Mr. Gomez said, smiling proudly, glad for the distraction. “We can send you home with some if you’d like, Kimberly.”

Before the conversation could continue, however, there was a knock at the door.

 

“I’ll get it!” One of the twins shouted and the other one went scrambling after him, followed by a livid Mrs. Gomez. Kim looked to the door, but it was too unclear to see who was behind it.

 

Kim was totally, completely calm, until she heard a voice that was  _ way  _ too familiar.

 

“Hi there, ha, not used to this house being full of people. I just wanted to check in on things? I’m Kimberly’s father.”

 

In a flash both Kim and Trini rushed to the door. “Dad, uh, what are you… doing here?”

 

“Yes, I have to ask,” Trini’s mother paused from holding the boys back to look up at Kim’s dad. “Why would you want to check in on things? Kimberly is nineteen, she’s just having dinner at a friend’s.”

 

_ Fuck. _

 

“What? It’s Christmas and my entire family is waiting at Kim’s mother’s home. Kim told her mother that Trini had an emergency and she’d rushed over here to help, I just wanted to make sure everything was okay.”

 

Slowly but surely, all eyes turned to Kim. 

 

Trini was the first to speak.

 

“The fuck is going on, Kimberly?”

 

She was quickly followed by June, who scolded Trini for cursing.

 

“Uh…” Kim rubbed the back of her neck, sighing. She might as well come clean.  She hated the thought of lying anymore. “Okay, so. Basically, I-”

 

“I told Kim that I had an emergency just to get her to eat dinner with my family.”

 

Everyone turned to Trini now, staring at her. “What?” Kim said, her mind clouded with disbelief. “No you didn’t.”

 

“Yeah, I did. You don’t need to lie for me Kim.”

 

“But you didn-”

 

“Everyone just hush!” June interrupted, putting her fingers to her temples and groaning. “Both of you. Up to Trini’s room. Until you figure out  _ what  _ in the Lord’s name is going on here, then come back here and tell us. Word for word.”

 

Begrudgingly they both headed up, where Trini sat on her bed and Kim milled around her room, ogling the familiar sight. She’d spent many nights here, only to sneak out at the crack of dawn.

 

She turned to face Trini. “Why the hell did you do that? You don’t even know what I did.”

 

“Yeah but you, looked pretty scared and,” Trini looked down, playing with the cuffs of her sleeves. “I don’t know I guess something protective kinda- came out.”

 

“Okay,” Kimberly said, but her face betrayed her in smiling wider than she thought she even could. “That’s- Okay. But you didn’t need to do it this time. My plan failed and I wanna tell the truth.”

 

“What  _ was _ your plan, anyway?”

 

“Well, you know how you invited me to dinner?”

 

“Yes, Kimberly. I know.”

 

“Just making sure. So yeah uh, I like you. a lot.”

 

“What does that have to do with-”

 

“I’m just setting the scene! Calm yourself. When you invited me I got really excited, ‘cause it’s… hard to tell how you feel sometimes. And while I know what I want, I don’t know what you want and I- I thought, meeting your family was like, you saying you were open to… whatever this is.”

 

Trini hummed and patted the bed next to her. Kim sat down and continued.

 

“The thing is that like, my dad’s entire family and my mom’s parents came over for Christmas dinner. And I wanted to spend it with you and your family, and I wanted to spend it with my family too and I felt like I was losing something important if I didn’t do both.”

 

Trini nodded understandingly, looking into Kim’s eyes. “Dumbass.”

 

“Hey!” Kim said with a laugh, shoving Trini’s shoulder lightly. “Don’t insult me like that.”

 

Trini patted Kim’s cheek and sighed with a smile. “You could’ve avoided all of this by saying you couldn’t make it. You could’ve come over for like, New Year’s, or something like that. You’re a dumbass.”

 

Kim would be insulted if Trini hadn’t been smiling while she said that. “But it’s Christmas Dinner, Trini. The gateway into couple-dom. I just… I wanted to show you that I can handle this. But obviously, I couldn’t.”

 

“Switching between two families? Maybe not. But you handled my mom like a goddamn champ, and that makes you good enough for me. Kim, listen I,” Trini looked down and grabbed Kim’s hand (fingers interlaced. Perfect.) “It’s hard for me- putting a label on these kinds of things. But I do wanna be with you. A lot. And you make me happy. So take that whatever way you want.”

 

Kim smiled brilliantly and grabbed Trini’s face between her hands, kissing her quick and firm. 

 

After they both pulled back, a bit dazed, Kim sighed. “I guess we should go down there and confess.”

 

“Unless you wanna ignore both our families and go back to kissing for like, eternity. Sure it’s not often you get to see them but, hey, how often do you get to make out with someone way out of your league?”

 

“Ass.”

**Author's Note:**

> pls lmk wat u thot :-)


End file.
